Gorgeous Idea: The Skin/Skein I’m In with Việt Lê

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, where are the lines between art, kitsch and pornography? If beauty is only skin deep, is race skin deep as well? Explore the controversial politics of looking—and the gorges of looking gorgeous—through the lenses of camp, desire, loss and capital gains.

Gorgeous Idea events are informal, impromptu in-gallery conversations facilitated by scholars, artists, filmmakers and writers who explore ideas arising from the artwork on view in the exhibition Gorgeous. Each facilitator will present an idea that piques his or her curiosity and host a session to investigate it through two or three artworks.

Việt Lê is an artist, writer and curator whose work has been exhibited in Asia, Europe and the United States. He has been published in Amerasia Journal, American Quarterly, and positions: asia critique, among others. Lê curated Miss Saigon with the Wind at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica (2005) and Charlie Don’t Surf! at Centre A in Vancouver (2005). He co-curated humor us at Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (2007); transPOP: Korea Viet Nam Remix, which appeared in Seoul, Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Irvine and San Francisco (2008); and the Kuandu Biennale (2012) in Taipei. Lê received his MFA from the University of California, Irvine, and his doctorate from the University of Southern California. Lê has received fellowships from Civitella Ranieri Foundation (Italy), Fulbright-Hays (Vietnam), Art Matters Foundation (U.S.), Center for Khmer Studies (Cambodia), International Institute for Asian Studies (the Netherlands), and PEN Center USA. Dr. Lê is an assistant professor in the Visual Studies program at California College of the Arts.www.vietle.net.